Jewish Prayer Calls for Holocaust of Non-Jews

ACCORDING to the Old Testament story, Ishmael was the son of the proto-Hebrew Abraham by his Egyptian concubine Hagar. Abraham later had a son, or so he claimed, by his Hebrew wife Sarah, when he was 100 years old. This second son, Isaac, became the father of the cunning, crafty, and deceitful Jacob, whose most notable accomplishment was the swindling of his older brother Esau out of his patrimony. Jacob was later known as Israel, and from him all Jews are descended, or so they claim. (ILLUSTRATION: Hagar and Ishmael, who never existed but whose story is nevertheless indicative of Jewish psychology)

Shortly after Isaac, the racially pure grandfather of the Jews, was born, good, old Abe drove the half-breed Ishmael and his mother out into the desert to die. They found a well and managed to survive, however, and Ishmael lived to become the tribal father of the Arabs. To Jews today the name “Ishmael” is an inclusive term for all of Israel’s Arab neighbors.

With that preface, the following Jewish liturgical chant is presented. Orthodox Jews chant it in unison on their shabbos, or Sabbath:

[Let this be] a day of light for Israel,
a day of doom for Ishmael;
A day of blessing for Israel,
a day of disorder for Ishmael;
A day of redemption for Israel;
a day of exile for Ishmael;
A day of exultation for Israel,
a day of decline for Ishmael;
A day of grandeur for Israel,
a day of ruin for Ishmael;
A day of steadfastness for Israel,
a day of woe for Ishmael;
A day of vindication for Israel,
a day of scorn for Ishmael;
A day of mercy for Israel,
a day of destruction for Ishmael;
A day of purity for Israel,
a day of pollution for Ishmael;
A day of salvation for Israel,
a day of wailing for Ishmael;
A day of prosperity for Israel,
a day of extinction for Ishmael;
A day of learning for Israel,
a day of filth for Ishmael;
A day of domination for Israel,
a day of plague for Ishmael;
A day of forgiveness for Israel,
a day of stoning for Ishmael;
A day of rescue for Israel,
a day of fear for Ishmael;
A day of rejoicing for Israel,
a day of squealing for Ishmael;
A day of holiness for Israel,
a day of damnation for Ishmael;
A day of favor for Israel,
a day of evil for Ishmael;
A day of peace for Israel,
a day of holocaust for Ishmael.

The poem undoubtedly has a more religious — and perhaps even a more melodious — sound to it in the original Hebrew than in this translation; in the last verse, for example, the Hebrew words for “peace” and “holocaust” — shalom and shoah, respectively — are used. Anyway, even in English it gives some nice insights into the Jewish psyche.